Cork brush Galway aside to lift first camogie league title since 2013
No way through... Shauna Healy of Galway is tackled by Amy O’Connor of Cork. Picture: Tom Beary/Sportsfile
Cork were crowned Very National Camogie League Division 1A champions at FBD Semple Stadium on Sunday.
Cork’s last league win was in 2013 and this one was built on an impressive display. The work rate of all was key, with the forwards making it difficult for Galway to move the ball from defence.
When they did the likes of Pamela Mackey, Libby Coppinger and Meabh Murphy, in defence, were in no mood to let them score.
Hannah Looney and Ashling Thompson were simply outstanding in midfield and on this display the Rebels are going to take some stopping this season.
Laura Hayes didn’t start for Cork, due to a leg injury, and that meant a reshuffle of the line-up. Katrina Mackey also didn’t start as Amy O’Connor and Emma Murphy came in. Looney dropped to midfield and Aoife Healy moved from there to the half-back line.
But that didn’t interrupt their game as they were the better side from start to finish and currently hold all three titles – league, Munster and All-Ireland.
Clodagh Finn opened the scoring for Cork in the third minute, with Carrie Dolan putting Galway back on level terms from a free.
Cork were denied a goal five minutes in when Looney took on the Galway defence and found Finn with her pass, but Sarah Healy was off her line quickly to deny her.
Finn was involved again, this time setting up Emma Murphy to point and from the restart, Ashling Thompson increased Cork’s lead to 0-3 to 0-1. Despite playing against the wind Cork were making more of their scoring chances, with Murphy on target again to put them three to the good after 10 minutes.
O’Connor pointed from a free to increase the Rebels lead as they were playing the better camogie at this stage, with Galway guilty of hitting a number of wides from scorable chances.
Galway’s second point came from another free, with Dolan on target again. She made it 0-5 to 0-3 with her third free before Niamh Mallow hit the upright and the danger was cleared by the Cork defence.
Thompson replied at the other end after shrugging off a challenge from the Galway defence.
Cork had Amy Lee to thank when a mistake by the Cork defence let Ailish O’Reilly in, but she burst off her line to block her effort on goal.
Sorcha McCartan increased Cork’s lead as they finished the half strongly, with O’Connor adding their eight, to make it 0-8 to 0-3 after 28 minutes.
Finn got her second of the half before Dolan was on target from another free as the Rebels led by 0-9 to 0-4 at half-time, with all Galway’s scores coming from frees.
A magnificent catch from Saoirse McCarthy, from a Lee puck out, saw her score the opening point of the second half, before Dolan, with her fifth, got Galway’s first point from play.
The determination of Cork was shown by O’Connor and McCartan early in the second half when they didn’t let Galway move the ball out from their endline, which eventually led to the latter pointing.
McCarthy got her second from a free, with O’Connor also scoring to make it 0-13 to 0-5 in Cork’s favour after 44 minutes.
Sarah Healy became Galway's second scorer of the game when she pointed a long-distance free, with Thompson and Looney replying at the other end.
Galway got a few late points but really they were no more than consolation scores as the Rebels ran out deserving winners.
A O’Connor (0-2 f), S McCarthy (0-1 f) 0-4 each, E Murphy, A Thompson, S McCartan 0-3 each, C Finn 0-2, H Looney, M Condon 0-1 each.
C Dolan 0-6 (0-5 f), Sarah Healy (f), N Niland, S Rabbitte, C Hickey 0-1 each.
A Lee; P Mackey, L Coppinger, M Murphy; M Cahalane (c), L Treacy, H Looney; A Thompson, A Healy; S McCarthy, E Murphy, S McCartan; C Finn, A O’Connor, O Cahalane.
C Healy for C Finn (45), A Fitzgerald for H Looney (50), K Wall for E Murphy (56), R Harty for A Healy (57), M Condon for A O’Connor (60), O Mullins for O Cahalane (61).
Sarah Healy; Shauna Healy, D Higgins, R Hanniffy; C Hickey, E Helebert, A Starr; A Keane, N Mallon; C Dolan, O Rabbitte, A Donohue; M Dillon, A O’Reilly, C Kelly.
A Hesnan for A Starr, R Black for E Helebert, S Rabbitte for C Kelly (all 38), A Kelly for A O’Reilly, N Niland for N Mallon (both 48), S Gardiner for A Donohue (52), A Lynskey for M Dillon (58).
Gavin Donegan, Dublin.
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